The present invention relates to thermal power plants and heat exchangers adapted for use in conjunction therewith.
Presently known steam power plants employing a plurality of turbine stages lose more than half of the heat input to the environment through the condenser. Various attempts have been made to increase the efficiency of steam turbine power plants but none have been successful in minimizing the above-noted heat loss to the greatest possible extent.
For example, in prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,884 a system is disclosed wherein a portion of the steam produced at low pressure, in a nuclear power plant, is compressed and employed for superheating the steam applied to one or more stages of a steam turbine. The stated improvement in efficiency in such prior system is only substantially 1.5 to 2.5%.